Ghosts of Christmas Past
by WinterSky101
Summary: When searching for (alarmingly homicidal) Christmas decorations, Sirius found a box of old pictures in the attic and, naturally, had to share them with everyone in Grimmauld Place. The memories they evoke are bittersweet. Christmassy OotP interlude.


**Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate Christmas!**

**This fic takes place a few days before Christmas during Order of the Phoenix. Sirius and Remus are written as close friends, but if you wish to see them as more, go ahead.**

**I hope everyone enjoys!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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><p>"Hey Remus, come look at this!" Sirius called from the other side of the attic.<p>

"Hmm?" Remus called back distractedly, more focused on removing the curses on the Black family nutcrackers, who had a nasty habit of pulling out their (surprisingly sharp) swords and stabbing at people with them. As far as Black curses went, it was fairly tame, but Remus didn't want to find out if they could do anything else, which was why he was slowly and carefully stripping away the layers of magic surrounding them, only keeping the charms that kept them from being scratched or worn down.

"Look," Sirius stated, sitting next to Remus and making him jump. The nutcracker he had just started working on pulled out its sword, yelled "DOWN WITH THE MOUSE KING" in its squeaky little voice, and stabbed him in the thigh, the sword plunging in a good inch. Remus yelped and immobilized the stupid thing with a quick spell, then healed the cut on his leg before it even had a chance to bleed.

"Is the great Remus Lupin, master at Defense Against the Dark Arts, being brought down by a little wooden toy?" Sirius asked with a devilish grin. Remus threw an ornament at him, which, to his surprise, promptly exploded in Sirius' face, singeing his eyebrows off and covering his face in soot. Sirius glared at him as he cleaned off the mess and regrew his eyebrows with a flick of his wand.

"Now that you're done trying to _kill me_..." Sirius stated in an overdramatic voice. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Show me what you have to show me and let me get back to making your family's Christmas decorations less homicidal," he told Sirius firmly. "Which you're not helping with at all."

"But look what I found!" Sirius protested, holding out a box. Despite himself, Remus took off the top. The box was full of photographs.

"From our old Hogwarts years!" Sirius stated gleefully. "And after, too. There's one with baby Harry in it. Now, aren't you glad I found something interesting and didn't just do boring things like you?"

Remus couldn't answer. His throat felt thick as he looked at one of the pictures on the top, featuring James and Lily snogging under a sprig of mistletoe. It was from their last year at Hogwarts, when the two of them had started dating. Remus remembered taking the picture, standing with Sirius behind a suit of armor and giggling madly, only to turn and run for their lives when Peter, who had stayed in the Great Hall later than the others, loudly asked Remus and Sirius what they were taking a picture of. James and Lily hadn't been entirely pleased, per say, but they had ended up getting a copy of the picture and displaying it on their mantle in Godric's Hollow, so they hadn't really been all that mad.

"I miss them too," Sirius whispered as Remus reached for the picture and picked it up with delicate fingers, irrationally terrified he would ruin it somehow.

"I gave almost all of my pictures of them to Hagrid," Remus stated, noting his voice sounded oddly detached. "He asked about pictures of them a few years ago. He wanted to make a photo album for Harry."

"It's good that Harry's got some pictures of his parents," Sirius replied, wrapping an arm around Remus' shoulders and squeezing slightly. "But I think I'm going to keep these ones." Sirius began looking through the other pictures, snickering at a few.

"Remember when we enchanted all of the ornaments on the trees in the Great Hall?" he asked, holding up a picture. Remus grinned in spite of himself. It was from the Christmas of their fifth year, when they decided they needed to do a bigger prank than usual before break. They enchanted the ornaments on the trees to explode like fireworks when they broke, and then made quite sure that all of the trees _happened_ to fall over during the feast. Then they'd made snow fall from the ceiling and spell out "HAPPY CHRISTMAS" in front of the staff table. As far as Marauder pranks went, it was more low-key than usual, but they'd gotten into the Christmas spirit and decided that maiming the Slytherins right before Christmas was crossing a line even _they_ didn't want to cross. And, even better, there wasn't enough evidence that they had done it for the teachers to get them in trouble. Everyone knew it was them, of course, but there was no proof, so they'd gotten off scot free. It probably helped that Dumbledore thought the prank was "charming," even if it involved breaking a few rules. The picture Sirius was holding managed to capture a few of the fireworks as well as the snow message.

"Everything was so much simpler back at Hogwarts," Remus remarked wistfully, his chest clenching as he pulled out a picture of himself and Lily, arm in arm in the Gryffindor Common Room and beaming at the camera. Remus had always gotten along with Lily better than the others, even before she gave in to James' advances and started dating him. Lily had been kind, practical, and tactful, which was a welcome change from the other Marauders at times. When they'd both been made Gryffindor prefects in their fifth year, Remus had become even better friends with her as they often got paired together for duties. And they'd studied together as well; Lily had been exceptional at Potions, which was Remus' worst subject, while Remus had a flair for Defense, which Lily sometimes struggled with. James had been ridiculously jealous of their study sessions, but he'd been much more appreciative when Remus told him he was always careful to slip in little remarks showing James in a more positive light than the one Lily used to see him in.

"When's that picture from?" Sirius asked, looking at it with a frown. "I don't remember it."

"Christmas of seventh year," Remus replied. Sirius nodded in understanding. The full moon had been on Christmas that year, the longest one of the year at 17 hours of nighttime, and Remus' mother had been ill, so he'd stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays. He hadn't told the others about his plan to do so, not wanting to ruin their Christmases; Peter and his mother were going to Spain, and James and Sirius were spending the holidays at the Potters' house in France. The others hadn't been pleased when Remus told them the truth about his Christmas plans, but by the time he'd come clean, it had been too late for them to stay. That full moon had been especially hard, Remus remembered; after the wolf became used of spending the moons with the others, any full moon without them had been even more painful than they used to be. But Lily had also stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas, in view of all of the mysterious deaths of Muggleborns, and she knew Remus was a werewolf even if he'd never told her. Remus had a feeling she'd figured it out even before the Marauders did. They'd had a lovely holiday together, and when Remus was stuck in the Hospital Wing for two days after Christmas, considering he'd managed to claw a good deal of his own flesh off, Lily had stayed with him for as long as Madam Pomfrey allowed.

"Should we bring the pictures downstairs to show the others?" Sirius asked, putting all the pictures back in the box and putting the top back on. Remus frowned, looking down at the nutcrackers. They seemed to be forming a little militia with the intent of destroying the Mouse King and his followers. Considering they seemed to see the inhabitants of the house as the followers of the Mouse King, Remus thought it was best if he continued stripping the charms.

"No, don't you dare," Sirius stated firmly, waving his wand and immobilizing the nutcrackers. "No work. It's almost Christmas. Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys are downstairs. You can't just stay up here and be _boring_."

"I don't think trying to stop murderous decorations is especially boring-" Remus protested halfheartedly, but Sirius was clearly in a mood in which he wasn't going to listen to logic. And when it came to Sirius, Remus was so very, very weak, as he'd always been (which was why he had been a horrible prefect). He knew he would give in. He just wanted it to be on his terms.

"Let me cast a proper containment spell on these decorations, then I'll come downstairs with you," Remus bargained. Sirius beamed.

"Good old Moony," he stated, clapping Remus on the back. "Should we pull a prank this Christmas? I'm sure Fred and George would help. And Harry. And I bet Ron would too. And Ginny."

"In that case, who are we pranking?" Remus asked dryly. "Everyone will be in on it."

"We'll be pranking Molly, of course!" Sirius replied gleefully. Remus shook his head.

"Leave the poor woman alone, Sirius. Her husband in St. Mungo's. She doesn't need us to mess with her on top of that."

"Arthur's condition is exactly _why_ we should pull a prank!" Sirius protested. "To get everyone's minds off it. Anyway, he's going to be alright. The Healers said he'll make a full recovery."

"A prank is the last thing Molly needs," Remus stated firmly. "No pranks, Sirius."

"You're no fun," Sirius grumbled, but he dropped the topic. Remus didn't doubt Sirius would attempt to plan something without him, but he'd never been any good at that. Remus could read him like a book.

Or he used to. Now, there were times when Remus had no idea what Sirius was thinking. They'd been separated for twelve years, after all, and Sirius had been in the worst prison known to man. It wasn't altogether surprising that Remus couldn't follow his mind everywhere it went.

He still didn't like it, though.

"If you shut up and let me cast this spell, we can go downstairs," Remus told Sirius scoldingly. Sirius mimed zipping his lips closed with a grin. Remus waved his wand over the decorations, mumbling under his breath. He could cast nonverbal spells, of course - he was very good at them, and even had a talent for wandless magic, which was a rare gift - but for something as delicate as a containment spell, it was better to be safe than sorry. Sirius didn't seem pleased at how long Remus took, but he would have been even less pleased if they were all attacked by nutcrackers and exploding ornaments, so Remus figured it was for the best, even if Sirius would undoubtedly contest that.

"We come bearing old pictures!" Sirius declared loudly as he and Remus entered the kitchen, where the others were sitting.

"The decorations still need some work," Remus added. "I'll have them ready soon, but for now, I've got a containment spell on them in the attic."

"What sort of spells do they have on them?" Hermione asked curiously. Remus was about to answer when Sirius cut in.

"Did you miss the part about old pictures?" he demanded. "Harry, there are some baby pictures of you in here too."

"Really?" Ginny asked, looking wickedly gleeful.

"Let's go somewhere more comfortable," Molly suggested, standing. "The drawing room is alright, isn't it, Remus?"

"I got rid of the Ashwinder and its eggs," Remus replied. Fred and George perked up.

"Ashwinder eggs?" George asked. Molly's face grew thunderous immediately.

"If you think you're getting your hands on Ashwinder eggs-" she began angrily, but Remus cut her off.

"I've already given them to Dumbledore for the NEWT Potions class," he told the twins, who looked disappointed. "And your mother is quite right. There's no reason you would need Ashwinder eggs."

"What if I get the ague?" Fred asked, looking terribly concerned. "They're the best cure, everyone knows that."

"If you get the ague, I'm sure we'll all regret giving away the eggs," Remus told Fred dryly. "But forgive me if I didn't keep them in case of that rather unlikely occurrence."

"Well, we haven't finished cleaning up after the Bundimun in the sitting room, so drawing room it is, then," Molly declared, standing. The children all did as well, with her leading the way through the hallways and up a flight of stairs. Hermione asked Remus about the spells on the decorations again, which led to him offering to show her them later, which led to Sirius throwing the top of the box of pictures at Remus' head because he wasn't paying attention to him. Sometimes, Remus didn't think he'd changed at all from the idiotic yet somehow (occasionally) charming boy at Hogwarts.

"I'll go make tea," Molly declared, looking fondly at everyone as she headed for the door. Remus stood.

"I'll help," he offered, but Sirius made as if to dive at him.

"No! Don't you dare! You're not allowed to go anywhere. You have to stay here and look at these pictures. Come _on_, Remus, don't be boring."

"I think you ought to stay," Molly told Remus, smiling slightly. "I can manage, dear." Remus sat back down as Molly left the room.

"Is that you?" Ginny asked Sirius, giggling as she pulled out a picture Remus recognized from Sirius's punk phase.

"Blimey," Ron muttered, showing a picture to Harry. "People aren't kidding when they say you look just like your dad."

Harry shrugged. "But I've got-"

"Your mum's eyes," Ron and Hermione chorused. "Everyone says that too," Ron added.

Remus rifled through the box a bit before pulling out a lovely picture of Lily's face, taken as she laughed. "He does have Lily's eyes," he told Ron and Hermione, showing them the picture. Hermione looked critically from the picture to Harry, who sighed.

"You're right," she finally proclaimed. "They are very nearly the same."

"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad," Ron chorused, smirking. Ginny went bright red and Harry hit Ron over the head with a pillow.

"Remus, remember the Winter Ball in our sixth year?" Sirius asked, grinning mischievously. Remus groaned.

"Is that the picture I think it is?" he asked, hoping it wasn't. He thought he had destroyed all copies of that picture. When Sirius showed Remus, it was clear one had escaped Remus' purge.

"Winter Ball?" Ron asked, frowning. "What's that?"

"You had the Yule Ball last year with the Triwizard Tournament," Remus explained. "And I suppose Dumbledore wished to have a ball, regardless of the lack of a Tournament, so he organized a Winter Ball in our sixth year."

"Here's a picture of Remus there," Sirius stated with a wicked grin, showing the others the picture. Remus buried his face in his hands.

"Why are you covered in green slime?" Fred asked, sounding unsure of whether he should be amused or concerned. Remus groaned loudly.

"A lovely prank, courtesy of myself and James," Sirius declared. Harry perked up at the mention of his father, looking up and clearly eager to hear the story. Remus hated this story, but he couldn't deny Harry.

"It was all because James was bitter I was going with Lily," Remus muttered. Harry's eyes went wide and he looked as if he might choke.

"You and my mum..." he began, horror in his tone. Remus shook his head quickly.

"Lily and I went as friends. We had been chosen as the Gryffindor prefects the year before, and we'd always been friendly, even before that. She asked if we wanted to go together, while making it very clear it would be strictly platonic. I had no desire to find a date, so I agreed."

"James was pissed she asked, but he was furious you said yes," Sirius reminisced. Remus shrugged.

"If he wanted Lily to ask him, he shouldn't have bothered her so much. And if he didn't want me to accept, he shouldn't have ruined my homework for the twelfth time that month." Only Hermione looked properly horrified at James' crime.

"Twelfth time?" Sirius repeated, sounding surprised. "I forgot how often he used to do that."

"He blew up my Charms essay. I spent four hours on it."

"You got it back," Sirius protested. Remus huffed.

"Two days before, he changed my Transfiguration essay on Animagi into a miniature stag because he thought it was funny," he added. Sirius snickered.

"That was funny."

"Oh, shut up," Remus huffed, only then realizing the others were looking at him and Sirius with expressions ranging from bafflement (Ron) to amusement (Hermione).

"Sorry, it's just kinda weird to see you two acting so...normal," Ginny told them, apparently taking the initiative to act as the spokesperson for everyone else. "I mean, Professor Lupin, you were our teacher. And Sirius, we all sort of thought you were a mass murderer until recently."

"Teachers and mass murderers are people too," Sirius reprimanded in a perfect imitation of Mrs. Weasley's most scolding tone, making everyone laugh.

"So, green slime?" George asked. Remus got the feeling the twins were hoping to find out how James and Sirius had made the slime so they could repeat it. Remus felt he couldn't stop them without being a massive hypocrite, but he hoped they wouldn't try it where Molly could see. She would be able to put two and two together if she saw the picture, and Remus had no desire to be on the receiving end of one of her scoldings.

"Well," Sirius began, quickly picking the narrative back up, "while Remus was being a giant girl about fixing his dress robes-"

"They were my dad's old dress robes!" Remus protested. "I was just trying to tailor them to a more modern style. And it clearly worked, considering _you_ asked me where I got the money for new robes when I was done."

"Anyway, while Remus was pretending to be Madam Malkin," Sirius stated loudly, to the amusement of the group, "and that stupid little shit Peter-"

"Language!" Molly called as she entered the room, a tray of mugs and a pot of tea floating in front of her.

"-Was trying to find a girl to torture- I mean, go to the ball with," Sirius continued as if Molly hasn't spoken, "James and I decided we didn't need birds anyway and we'd go alone."

"I believe there was a lot more whining than that," Remus remarked dryly. Sirius waved him off.

"We were very happy to go _stag_," he replied, grinning as he emphasized the word. Remus snorted in amusement, remembering all the horrible puns from that ball, finally declared to be even worse than Sirius' perennial favorite, the serious/Sirius pun.

"Slime?" Fred prompted, peering at the picture with George. Remus wished they would stop staring at it so much; it was a fairly embarrassing photo of him looking absolutely stunned and horrified at the green slime covering him and everything in sight. Remus had nearly strangled Sirius for taking that picture, then he'd nearly strangled both him and James for pulling the prank. Lily had beaten him to it, however, pulling out her wand and shooting jinxes at the two of them faster than they could deflect them. She'd been stopped by Professor McGonagall, but not until a few jinxes had made contact. Remus somehow didn't think that was entirely coincidental.

"Ah, yes," Sirius stated, his face taking on a dreamy quality. Remus rolled his eyes; Sirius had always been overly dramatic. "The slime explosion at the Winter Ball was definitely one of our greatest achievements."

"If you measure your achievements based on the amount of detention time," Remus muttered. Sirius frowned.

"Didn't we get more detentions in fifth year when we brought the Halloween feast to life?" he asked. Remus frowned, having to think about it.

"Perhaps," he replied. Seeing the look on Molly's face, he quickly added, "We shouldn't have pulled all the pranks we did."

"Yes, we should have," Sirius protested, waving Remus off. "They were great. Anyway-"

"I don't think you need to regale the children with stories of your rule-breaking," Molly cut in firmly as she handed out mugs of tea. Sirius rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking and mouthed to the twins that he would tell them later. They looked far too excited about that. Remus stole the box of pictures from Sirius' lap and began flipping through them.

"Oh, look, that's one with Kingsley in it!" Sirius cried, snatching a picture and showing it to the others. Kingsley had been a Ravenclaw and one year ahead of the Marauders, and he had been none too fond of their pranks. The picture Sirius held was one of him yelling at James and Sirius, who had charmed all his hair to fall off.

"The best part is he chooses to stay bald now," Sirius remarked. "Either that or our spell was much stronger than we thought it was. Do you remember how pissed he was, Remus?"

"I wasn't there," Remus replied, continuing to flip through pictures.

"Oh, right," Sirius replied, nodding. That had been in their fourth year, before the others had become Animagi, and the full moon had been a rather rough one. James claimed that turning Kingsley bald was supposed to make Remus feel better, but Remus always thought it was because he knew Remus wouldn't had approved of such an idiotic prank.

"Here's one with Frank and Alice," Remus remarked quietly, passing the picture to Sirius, whose smile flickered for a moment. Remus had gone to visit the Longbottoms only a few times at St. Mungo's since the war ended. Frank and Alice had been Gryffindors, three and two years ahead of the Marauders, respectively. They had joined the Order almost immediately after school and then gone to do their Auror training. Remus hadn't known them well in school, but they'd both been lovely, friendly people, so when they were all in the Order together, Remus got to know them better. Their torture had been a severe blow, especially as it came after Voldemort's defeat, when everyone thought they were safe. Remus saw a lot of them in their son.

Molly and, for some reason, Harry seemed to be the only ones who recognized the names. Remus tucked the photograph away, not wanting the others to recognize the laughing figures as Neville's parents if he hadn't talked about them to the others.

"Are there any with my brothers?" Molly asked in a quiet undertone. Remus flipped through the pictures, looking for pictures of Gideon or Fabian Prewitt.

"Here's one with Lily yelling at James," Sirius said with a smirk. "Oh, and Remus, here's one of you in the Hospital Wing."

"I thought I banned pictures of me in the Hospital Wing," Remus stated darkly, taking the offered picture. He looked horrible, as he always did after a transformation. "Arse," he muttered, thankfully quiet enough that Molly didn't hear.

"Hey, I think James took that one!" Sirius protested. Remus' eyes narrowed.

"That one?"

"Were you in the Hospital Wing a lot, Professor?" Ginny asked curiously. Remus sighed.

"More than I would have liked," he replied. He could tell from the looks on Harry, Ron, and Hermione's faces that they knew what he was referencing, and Molly knew as well, but the children had never been told outright. He thought the twins knew, but he was never certain if Ginny did or not. Remus' condition wasn't common knowledge, even in the Order, by his own request. Sirius thought it was stupid and brashly declared they didn't want people in the Order if they wouldn't accept Remus, werewolf and all. But Remus was aware that there were already only a few people who were joining them and believed that Voldemort was back, and they couldn't afford to alienate any of them.

"Where's the one with my mum and dad?" Harry asked. Sirius grinned, passing the picture over. Harry frowned at him.

"Did my mum really yell at my dad that much?" he asked, sounding faintly confused. Remus shrugged.

"James could be arrogant and rather...inconsiderate when it came to his pranks. Lily disliked being pranked, so when James decided that was the best way of wooing her..."

"To be fair, we all were in on the enchanted suits of armor prank," Sirius put in. "And having all of the suits of armor patrolling the hallways and passing on Valentine's Day cards was pretty great."

"Lily didn't enjoy a suit of armor reciting love poetry to her," Remus remarked. Harry's eyes went wide.

"My dad wrote love poetry for my mum?"

"He only wrote one poem," Sirius assured Harry quickly. "For the rest, he just asked Remus for good love poems."

"And Lily enjoyed the Shakespeare, didn't she?" Remus retorted. "But James comparing her hair to a still-beating heart and her eyes to freshly-harvested frog spawn was less appealing, understandably."

"Freshly-harvested frog spawn?" Harry repeated dubiously. Sirius sighed.

"Do you think we have the poem written down somewhere?" he asked Remus. "For posterity' sake?"

"I think we burned all evidence of it," Remus replied dryly. "However, I do remember the lines 'I wrote you this poem / In hopes that you'd show 'em / I'm not sure who they are / Do you like guitar?' which James thought was the height of romance."

"He was having difficulty coming up with rhyming words," Sirius defended. Harry looked amused.

"My dad really wrote that?"

"I doubt your poetry would be much better," Ron retorted. "You couldn't even kiss Cho Chang without her crying all over you."

"Ron!" Hermione scolded as Harry's face turned red. Sirius looked wickedly gleeful.

"Cho Chang, you say? Is she some lovely girl, Harry?"

"She's the Ravenclaw Seeker, isn't she?" Remus asked, remembering the Quidditch game he'd seen when he taught at Hogwarts. Sirius smirked.

"Dating someone from a different Quidditch team? You'd better hope the Gryffindor Captain is alright with that. Remus, remember when James found me snogging the Hufflepuff Chaser?"

"He was furious," Remus replied, grinning slightly at the memory. "You weren't even on the team, but he thought you were...what did he say?"

"'Betraying the honorable House of Gryffindor,'" Sirius replied promptly. "I thought he was going to hex me."

"Do you think Angelina will be pissed?" Harry asked Fred and George, who shrugged at exactly the same time. Remus could remember James and Sirius doing that sometimes, although they were always far more pleased with themselves after doing it than the twins appeared to be.

"We're not on the team anymore," Fred put in. "Can't imagine she's got much of a right to be angry with you about snogging someone from the Ravenclaw team."

"Just don't tell her our training secrets and Angelina should handle it with minimal shouting," George finished. Harry frowned.

"We have training secrets?"

"I'm sure Angelina will be fine with it, dear," Molly told Harry kindly. "Tell us more about this Cho Chang. Is she a nice girl?"

Harry flushed, looking embarrassed. It probably wasn't helped by the knowing and amused expressions on Ron and Hermione's faces. "She's nice," he mumbled.

"Why was she crying when you snogged?" Sirius asked. "Are you really that bad a kisser?"

"Shut up," Harry muttered, shrinking into his seat, his face steadily turning redder and redder.

"She dated Cedric Diggory last year," Hermione informed them. "So she's been spending a lot of time crying recently."

"Were you kind to her?" Remus asked, frowning slightly. He imagined it had to be hard to kiss a girl while she cried over her ex-boyfriend, but the poor girl had gone through a lot, clearly, and could probably use some comfort.

"'Course I was," Harry protested. "But it was...weird."

"Harry, if you're kissing a girl and she's still able to think, you're clearly not doing it right," Sirius told Harry sternly. Ginny giggled.

"That's quite enough of _that_, Sirius," Molly cut in sternly.

"Here's a picture with Gid and Fab," Remus said softly, passing it to Molly, who looked stunned. It was one of the Order, although a more relaxed picture than many. Gideon and Fabian were having an arm wrestling match in one corner. Fabian was very pleased when he won.

"Here's one of Harry in a nappy!" Sirius crowed, showing everyone the picture as Harry, from what it looked like, attempted to sink through the floor in misery.

"You were an adorable child," Hermione stated, smiling at the picture. Harry attempted to pull his jumper up over his face. Ron and Ginny laughed. Remus considered putting Harry out of his misery and telling Sirius to put the picture away, but he _was_ a Marauder at heart and he _did_ enjoy seeing pictures from that simpler time.

"I taught you some of your first words," Remus told Harry, smiling at the memory. "Your mother was thrilled when I helped you say Mama."

"I worked with James to get him to say Dada," Sirius added. "But Remus and Lily beat us, smug bastards."

"_Language_, Sirius," Molly scolded.

"English," he replied with a winning smile. Remus rolled his eyes. "I could do French, if you'd prefer," Sirius added. "Dear old mum and dad made sure I was fluent."

"Really?" Hermione asked, sounding curious. "Have you ever been to France?"

"I went with the Potters over Christmas holidays in my seventh year," Sirius replied, grinning. "James and I managed to find a nude beach that was still open in December, so we cast a few Warming Charms and-"

"That's quite enough of that," Remus cut in, remembering the story from the first time Sirius told it. He remembered being a bit jealous after hearing the others tell their stories of their trips, considering Remus' only story from the holiday was about how long he had spent in the Hospital Wing after the full moon, but he hadn't ever said anything. He had never been to anywhere on the continent, considering his parents couldn't afford it. But he heard his friends' stories and saw their pictures, which he told himself was nearly as good.

"I ought to bring over some pictures from the Burrow," Molly offered. "I've got quite a few old ones, and I have baby pictures as well." Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George all looked properly horrified.

A few pictures later - all of Remus' hard work at forgetting about the Halloween Incident of 1972 went to waste when Sirius found a picture of said incident - Remus stood, resolutely ignoring the begging look on Sirius' face. "I'm going to go upstairs and go back to working with the ornaments," he murmured. "Don't give me that look, Sirius; it's been nearly an hour," he added when Sirius' expression turned to horribly betrayed.

"Could I come with you?" Hermione asked, standing as well. "So I could see the charms?"

"Of course," Remus replied with a smile. Sirius had accused him on a few occasions of having a soft spot for Hermione, which he had never really argued, mainly because it was true. He liked the others as well, of course, especially Harry and Ron, but he saw himself in Hermione. And the fact that she knew he was a werewolf meant there was one less secret to hide.

The fact that she had known his secret for a good part of her third year and never mentioned that Professor Lupin was a werewolf didn't hurt either.

"Do you have your wand with you?" Remus asked. Hermione pulled it out, looking a bit confused.

"But isn't it against the law for me to do any sort of spells outside of school?" she asked. Remus grinned.

"Well, first, I believe that the spells that've been put up here will prevent the Trace from working properly." Hermione just nodded, which Remus found fairly impressive; most young witches and wizards didn't even know what the Trace was. "And, secondly, when an underage witch or wizard is in a house full of other witches and wizards who are of age, it can be difficult to discern who did a spell." Remus' grin widened as Hermione's face showed she understood what he was saying. "As far as anyone knows, any and all spells done up here were performed by myself only. You merely watched."

There was mischief in Hermione's grin when she tucked her wand back in her pocket. "Of course, Professor," she replied, nodding solemnly.

"You can call me Remus, if you'd like," Remus offered. "But I understand if you'd prefer not to. I only recently stopped referring to Minerva as Professor McGonagall, and that was only because it became awkward when we were both professors."

"I..." Hermione seemed a bit flustered at the thought. Remus smiled kindly at her.

"Professor Lupin is quite alright, if you prefer. I'm not particular about it."

"I'd prefer Professor Lupin," Hermione admitted shyly, offering Remus a small smile. Remus grinned back at her as he opened the door to the attic.

"DOWN WITH THE MOUSE KING!" one of the nutcrackers squeaked loudly, which seemed to be the appropriate battle cry for all of the nutcrackers to let out cries of their own. Hermione let out a little shriek when they pulled out their swords and attempted to charge, but they only made it a few paces before hitting the edges of the containment spell and bouncing back. Remus smirked slightly; his containment spell was working.

"Are they sentient?" Hermione asked. Remus shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. All I've heard them say is that one phrase, and while they did form themselves into an impressive militia earlier, I don't think they're truly alive."

"What spells do the have on them?" Hermione asked, kneeling near the nutcrackers and peering at them. One pulled out its sword, but the containment spell did its work again and the attempted stab only sent the nutcracker tumbling backwards.

"Animating charms so they can move," Remus replied, pulling out his wand and sitting next to Hermione. "A recording spell with the bit about the Mouse King and a tweaked performing spell that allows them to say it. And there's a compulsion spell that makes them attack whoever's in the house with their swords, which are surprisingly sharp but, thankfully, not cursed. Then, of course, there are more basic, less dark spells for keeping them from getting scratched or worn out. I've kept those, but I've stripped the others off the nutcrackers."

"So the ones you've already fixed are just like regular Muggle nutcrackers, just a bit more resilient?" Hermione asked, taking one of the nutcrackers Remus had already taken the spells off of and turning it around in her hands.

"Hopefully," Remus replied, eyeing them cautiously. "Unless there are other spells I can't detect."

"What about the rest of the ornaments?" Hermione asked, reaching for one of the ornaments. Remus was about to warn her when it exploded in her hand, sending soot everywhere and burning her hands slightly.

"I can fix that," Remus murmured, cleaning the soot with a simple Scourgify and healing the burns with a quick charm. "And yes, the rest of the ornaments all seem rather dangerous as well."

"I see," Hermione replied. Tentatively, she took out her wand. "May I?" she asked, gesturing at the ornaments. Remus inclined his head, sitting back.

"Be my guest," he replied. Hermione waved her wand over the ornaments, murmuring a simple diagnostic charm. Remus smiled slightly as the ornaments lit up with softly pulsing glows, indicating what spells they carried. Hermione nodded slowly, flicking her wand and causing the glows to disappear. She looked nervously back at Remus, who nodded encouragingly, then she bent over the box of ornaments and began murmuring a spell to counter and neutralize any spells already cast. Remus' grin widened. Of course, they would have to cast Unbreakable Charms upon the ornaments before they were ready to go downstairs, and Remus wasn't entirely certain that the spell to time the explosions would be lifted by the spell Hermione was casting, as he was fairly certain it was more powerful, but otherwise, it ought to work.

Hermione leaned back with a pleased expression on her face when she finished the spell and cast another diagnostic spell, which showed that almost all the other spells were gone. "Well done," Remus complimented softly. "But the spell didn't work on the timing spell. Why?" After he said if, Remus realized he sounded eerily like the professor he no longer was, but Hermione didn't mind and answered his question promptly.

"The spell was too deeply intertwined with the ornaments and too powerful. My spell was more superficial and only cleaned off the other, weaker spells, almost like it skimmed them off the top."

"It's like the difference between peeling an apple and coring it," Remus suggested. Hermione nodded.

"The spells I got rid of were like the peel, but the timing spell is like the core, so we need something else to get at it."

"Excellent," Remus replied, grinning. "I'd give ten points to Gryffindor if I could. You truly are the brightest witch of your age. To tell the truth, I'm a bit surprised you didn't end up in Ravenclaw."

"Terry Boot said the same thing when he found out I could cast a Protean Charm," Hermione admitted. Remus arched an eyebrow.

"A Protean Charm? That's N.E.W.T. level magic."

"He said that as well," Hermione replied, looking slightly shy but proud. "And, well, the Sorting Hat did consider putting me in Ravenclaw, but it decided on Gryffindor in the end."

"The Hat did the same for me," Remus admitted. Hermione looked up at him in surprise. "At first, it seemed set on Ravenclaw. But it ended up choosing Gryffindor for me as well." He didn't mention that he'd asked it too do so for two reasons. First, he was terrified that, if surrounded by other brilliant Ravenclaws, they would quickly discover his secret and force him to be kicked out of the school. And second, he had already met James and Sirius, although not for very long, and they had been kinder to him - especially after he made a soft, subtly humorous remark about the Slytherin prefect Lucius Malfoy's hair - than anyone other than his family had been in years. Sirius had already been Sorted into Gryffindor, to the shock of most of the people in the Great Hall, and James was confident he would be as well. Remus, desperate to join them, had begged the Sorting Hat to place him there as well, and it had. It had been the right choice; when Remus had sat down at the Gryffindor table, Sirius had clapped him on the back and beamed at him. If Remus had to pinpoint the moment at which he and Sirius became friends, he would choose that instant as the start.

"Can you help me get rid of the timing spell?" Hermione asked, frowning down at the ornaments. Remus dragged himself out of his memories of first year, so long ago, and refocused on the present. "I think we'll need to do it individually for each ornament."

"Not quite," Remus replied with a smile. Pulling out his wand, he waved it over the ornaments. The countercurse for the timing spell wasn't altogether difficult, but Hermione was right that it would have to be done individually, under normal circumstances. But if Remus tweaked the spell slightly, as he had done, he could cast it with a wider range and hopefully remove the spell from every ornament all at once.

Remus' charm worked, to his relief, and he grinned at Hermione's stunned expression. "I wouldn't suggest playing around at spell modification for at least another year or so," Remus warned her. "But it can be rather useful."

"So should we cast Unbreakable Charms now, so they'll last downstairs," Hermione replied, looking over the ornaments. "Could I try casting it? I've never done it before, but I know the theory."

Remus plucked one of the ornaments from the box and handed it to Hermione. "Go ahead," he replied with a grin. "If you can get it right with this one, you can cast it over the others."

Hermione's brow furrowed in concentration as she pointed her wand at the ornament in her other hand. Nothing visibly happened when she said the incantation, but that was standard for Unbreakable Charms. "How do we know if it worked?" Hermione asked. Remus grinned, took the ornament, and threw it across the room. It hit the wall loudly, but stayed in one piece.

"_Accio ornament_," Remus muttered, sending it flying back to his hand. "Well done, Hermione." Hermione flushed with pleasure. "Would you like to do the rest? I'm going to get started on another nutcracker."

"Alright," Hermione replied, leaning over the box of ornaments and waving her wand. Remus watched her fondly for a moment before going to the nutcrackers and taking one out of the containment spell. He immobilized it before it was able to stab him, then began working at the animation charms, which were the most important to get rid of. The spells on the nutcrackers were too deeply embedded to allow a simple nullifying spell to get rid of them, and while Remus thought he could perhaps try the same modified spell he had used on the ornaments, he was less willing to do so on the nutcrackers, in case it didn't work. With the ornaments, the timing spell really didn't cause a danger, as they couldn't explode anymore. With the nutcrackers, Remus had to be sure the animation charms and the compulsion spell were completely gone before he could risk bringing them downstairs. And their little voices were fairly grating, so he'd get rid of those spells too.

Hermione had finished the Unbreakable Charm by now and was peering over Remus' shoulder as he slowly stripped away the animation charms. "Can you see the difficulty with an object like this?" Remus asked her absently. "Why do I have to be so delicate?"

"Because the spells are so deeply engrained in the nutcracker," Hermione replied, sitting cross-legged next to Remus. "If you tried to get rid of them all at once, or simply get rid of the spells, you could hurt their object, that is, the nutcracker."

"And Sirius would be furious if I destroyed any of his Christmas decorations," Remus finished with a sigh. "I'm not quite sure why he insists that we fix these ones. I've told him time and again that I don't mind going out to buy new decorations, and he has more than enough money to afford them, but he insists on these ones."

"Maybe it's because they're his childhood ornaments," Hermione suggested, watching as Remus began stripping away at the compulsion spell, the animation spell completely gone. "Perhaps he has good memories associated with them."

"Sirius' family was horrible, according to every account he gave us, and he ran away to the Potters when he was sixteen," Remus replied, pausing in his spellwork and turning to Hermione. "He's always resented anything that reminds him of his family. That's why he hates this house so much. And he hated summer holidays more than anyone I've ever met. I can't imagine him wanting any more childhood memories."

"Maybe he just doesn't want you to leave," Hermione offered. Remus turned to her with a frown. "I mean, maybe he doesn't want you going anywhere without him. He seems lonely, and he didn't like when we all left for school. I don't think he wants to risk being left alone. You're staying with him, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm staying here," Remus replied, frowning slightly. Sirius had protested it at first, warning him that there was far too much silver in the house and that it was full of Dark magic and that it was really more of a prison than a house, but Remus had been steadfast, arguing that it was better than his rundown shack of a house and that he wasn't about to leave Sirius again. The arguments had died down after that.

"Maybe he doesn't want you to go," Hermione replied simply. Remus' frown deepened.

"You may be right," he admitted. "It is difficult for him, being stuck here." _And he has been using me as a safety net, for better or for worse,_ Remus added silently. The thought made him a bit uncomfortable; he had a dangerous job, and he was going out on dangerous missions all the time. If something happened to him, which wasn't out of the question, he shuddered to think what it would do to Sirius.

"Professor!" Hermione cried suddenly. Remus jerked to attention, looking where she was pointing. The containment spells seemed to be weakening, and the nutcrackers were doing their best to push past it. Remus quickly put down the nutcracker he was working on and renewed the containment spells, trapping the others again. Hermione looked a bit embarrassed.

"Sorry," she muttered. Remus put a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you for telling me," he replied. "I really ought to continue working on these nutcrackers."

"Should I go look in the other boxes?" Hermione asked, standing.

"Be careful," Remus replied, already engaging himself in stripping the spells away from the nutcracker he was holding. Hermione began looking around the attic, opening boxes and occasionally bringing them over near Remus, if they had Christmas decorations in them. By the time she had finished, Remus had gotten rid of the spells on all but two of the nutcrackers.

"This one has tinsel and the like, and this one has little holiday figures," Hermione told him, gesturing at the two boxes. "The tinsel moved when I took the top off, so I'd be careful with it."

"Thank you," Remus replied, pausing with the nutcrackers and cracking open the box with the tinsel, which began slithering towards him like a snake. He had a feeling it might try to strangle him if he let it get that far, so he quickly closed the top and opened the other box. The figures were dirty and grimy, but recognizably angels and other Christmas figures. Remus picked one up, but quickly dropped it with a cry as if it had burned him, which, in fact, it had.

"Professor!" Hermione cried as Remus pulled his hand away, eyeing the burn across his hand with a slight hint of bitterness.

"They're made of silver," Remus told Hermione, tapping his hand gently with his wand. Bandages curled around it, binding it tightly. "It'll heal in a day or two."

"You can't heal it with magic?" Hermione asked, frowning. "I thought burns were easy to fix."

"Regular burns are," Remus replied wryly. "But silver burns don't heal with magic." As his hand throbbed, he decided not to mention that he couldn't even use magic to dull the pain, which would have been appreciated. "It's the same as werewolf scars," Remus added, gesturing at his face. The three claw marks scratching across his face had been from the full moon after James and Lily's death, Peter's so-called murder, and Sirius's incarceration in Azkaban. The wolf had been vicious, which Remus knew had been related to his guilt and grief over what had happened. "They're cursed wounds, so they don't heal easily with magic. I do have a salve in my room which can speed the process, which I can use later. It'll be back to normal soon."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said quietly. Remus offered her a wry grin.

"It's alright," he replied in an equally quiet voice. "I'm used to it by now. I should have realized the figurines were silver before I decided to grab one." He really ought to have known better. Hermione pursed her lips, reminding Remus rather painfully of the look Lily would give him when he said something self-deprecating or belittling, especially when it was related to his lycanthropy. He supposed he wasn't the only one Hermione was a great deal similar to. She could resemble Lily quite closely at times as well.

"There's nothing I can do to help?" Hermione finally asked. Remus shook his head.

"It's quite alright, Hermione," he assured her. "I think it would be best if we put away those figurines, and I'd rather you didn't tell Sirius about this. He'll worry unnecessarily."

Hermione frowned. "He'll notice the bandages," she countered uncertainly. Remus offered her a slight smile.

"Leave that to me. I would be very grateful if you could do this for me, Hermione."

"Alright," Hermione replied slowly, although she still sounded doubtful. "Haven't we used silver goblets and the like before?"

"You have," Remus replied wryly. "But only because there aren't enough other cups for the nights with lots of people here. When it's just myself and Sirius, he puts those away."

"Is that why he's always ruthless about getting rid of anything silver?" Hermione asked, a look of dawning comprehension on her face. She looked strikingly similar to Lily when she'd just reached an epiphany; Remus' stomach clenched. "Ron asked him once why he was tossing it all when it could be worth something, but he just muttered something and went off to feed Buckbeak."

"Sirius has enough money," Remus replied dismissively. "And he's always been...well, _protective_, I suppose. But really, Hermione," Remus added, suddenly realizing how much personal information he had disclosed without realizing it, "we ought to get back to the decorations. Could you look through the boxes and see what's in them? Be careful."

Hermione didn't push the point, thankfully, and took the box with the figurines, carefully placing them on the side farther from Remus. He forced himself not to smile and instead picked up the second to last nutcracker.

Hermione managed to do some quick countercurses on a few strands of fairy lights - and of course the Black family would have cursed lights instead of using real fairies like most wizarding families - and got rid of a nasty curse on a star meant for the top of the tree, which meant it would do its hardest to make the tree topple down on top of people if they were close enough to be crushed. Remus finished the last two nutcrackers and packed them all away in a box to bring downstairs later.

Before either Remus or Hermione could decide on what to do, there was a tentative tap on the attic door. "Hermione?" It was Ron; he stepped in awkwardly, clearly not as at ease around Remus as Hermione and Harry were. Remus couldn't blame him; he still felt like a child play-acting at being an adult whenever Minerva came to speak with him.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, stowing her wand in her pocket and standing. Remus did as well, tucking his bandaged hand in his pocket.

"Uh, Mum had a question for you about Christmas lunch? She wanted to talk to you."

"I'll be right down," Hermione replied, leaning down to put all the still-cursed ornaments into one box. Remus stopped her with a gentle hand.

"I'll take care of it. Go with Ron." Hermione nodded shyly before following Ron downstairs to find Molly. Remus, who was fairly certain he was pushing his luck by staying in the attic for so long, put all of the still-cursed ornaments into one box, using magic to move the silver figurines, and put all of the curse-free ones in another. Then he stepped out of the attic, locked the door with a tap of his wand, and made his way down to his room.

There was no one in there, thankfully; Sirius tended to spend a majority of his time in Remus' room, whether Remus was in there or not. But he wasn't there, so Remus closed the door and crossed to the cabinet by his bed, pulling out a small pot. With a tap of his wand, the bandages on his hand fell away, revealing the angry-looking burn across his hand. Carefully, not using any more than he had to, Remus smeared the salve across the burn, letting it sink down into the skin and begin to work at healing it. A minute later, the burn looked to be a few days old and, Remus thought, would be fairly unnoticeable for those who weren't looking for it. He still rewrapped his hand in bandages, but he knew he'd have to get rid of them before he left the room. The burn across his hand wasn't all that noticeable, but bandages were. Sirius could be remarkably oblivious at times, but Remus didn't think he was so oblivious as to not notice a mass of white bandages wrapped around his hand.

"Remus!" Remus sighed. _Speak of the devil._ With a tap of his wand, the bandages on his hand Vanished. Remus stuffed his hand in his pocket as he crossed to the door.

"What is it?" he asked as he opened the door. Sirius, who had never been accused of having any tact at all, pushed his way into Remus' room. Having shared a dormitory with Sirius for seven years at school and then a flat for three years after, Remus wasn't exactly surprised.

"I was wondering if the decorations were ready," Sirius replied, throwing himself down onto Remus' bed. "And I had a question about the pictures."

"The nutcrackers are all ready, and so are the ornaments. Hermione for started on a few other things, but there's still more to be done," Remus replied, closing the door and sitting next to Sirius on his bed. "And what did you want to ask about the pictures?"

"How did they get here?" Sirius asked, frowning down at the slightly battered box he'd brought with him to Remus' room. "There are pictures here from after I left for the Potters', so they can't be ones that got left behind. Anyway, things I left behind were usually burned, not shoved away in the attic." Sirius set the pictures down on the bed. "So where did they come from?"

Remus studiously began to examine the duvet cover in an attempt to avoid the question. It was nice, as far as duvet covers went. A dark green brocade shot through with silver thread. Slytherin colors, yes, but Remus had always liked green, and the silver thread wasn't real silver, so he didn't have a problem with the cover. And it was well made, certainly. The thread count was probably obscenely high. And the duvet was warm, Remus had to give it that. He had never been all that good with Warming Charms, but he didn't need them while he was under the thick blanket. It was a good blanket, Remus thought, although he was certain Sirius wouldn't agree, simply because it was green and silver.

"Remus," Sirius said quietly. Remus kept staring at the duvet cover. "Moony, what is it?"

"After..." Remus sighed. "Well, _after_, when you were...gone, there was the question of what to do with your things." Remus began to toy with the duvet, thinking to himself that it would be much more satisfying to mess with if it had a thread or two loose. "So the Ministry looked at who you had named your next of kin. And you had said they were James, Peter, and myself." Remus wished Sirius would just get it right then, without him having to explain anymore, but he still looked puzzled, so Remus continued on. "So, since James was dead and everyone thought Peter was too, your things were all examined, anything even remotely dangerous was seized, and then everything that made it through came to me."

"So how did it end up here?" Sirius asked, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. Remus continued to play with the duvet, not looking up.

"I didn't want it," he replied. He felt oddly numb, having to think about this again, having to relive the awful days of grief and guilt, the days when he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it, Sirius was his _flatmate_, for God's sake, and James and Peter were dead because he was a fool. Of course, when all the facts were finally laid out, Remus discovered that it wasn't Sirius' fault. That didn't mean he wasn't a fool - he knew Peter for ten years and never even saw it coming - but it changed things. Then he was a fool for believing it, a fool for thinking that Sirius could ever have been the traitor. Still, at that time, fourteen years ago, any memories of the life he'd shared with Sirius and the lies Sirius had allegedly told him were like silver, burning him with no remedy in sight.

"I didn't want any of your things, and I was going to get rid of them. But then Dumbledore asked if he could have them. I didn't know why. I never asked. But I gave them to him so I wouldn't have to think about it." Remus laughed bitterly. "It didn't work. I thought about it every single bloody day. But not having any tangible reminders... Well, that's why I gave up all my pictures when Hagrid asked." As Remus finally looked up at Sirius, he was struck by how _old_ he looked. They were at the age now that seemed impossibly ancient when they were young. For Heaven's sake, they were old enough that James and Lily's son was in his fifth year at Hogwarts! And Sirius showed the age too, although Remus could still see the playful, idiotic boy underneath. Remus knew he probably looked even older, but that was the lycanthropy, putting stress on his body and aging it, lining his face and graying his hair. Sirius should not look so old. Sirius should never look old. It was just wrong, Remus thought, just...wrong.

"So Dumbledore had my stuff, and he brought it here?" Sirius asked. Remus nodded.

"He must have. I can't imagine what else would have happened." He felt like he ought to say more, perhaps explain why he had gotten rid to Sirius' things, but no words came to him.

"I'm glad it's here," Sirius said quietly, uncharacteristically solemn. "I'm glad you're here too." Sirius draped himself across Remus' lap, a familiar pose from when Sirius wanted to be dramatic and Remus was daring to do something as mundane as _study_ or _read_. It seemed different now, less of an attempt to distract and annoy Remus and more of an attempt to just be close to him. Remus tangled his fingers in Sirius' long hair with a soft sigh. An outsider seeing the scene might have found it strange, but after living together for ten years and being friends, if estranged, for twenty-five - had it really been twenty-five years since they had first met? - there were few boundaries between them.

"I'm glad to be with you," Remus said quietly, honestly. He had thought Sirius lost for so long, then he had slipped away again just when Remus had found him. But now he was here, safe, and Remus never wanted to let him leave again.

"Oh, by the way," Sirius added, abruptly popping upright and nearly crashing his head into Remus', "I was thinking we'd tell the twins that we're the Marauders when we tell them about the prank."

"I thought they'd figured it out," Remus replied, frowning.

"I think they suspect," Sirius replied, nodding. "But come on, it'll be fun to see their faces when we tell them."

"I haven't said a word against it," Remus reminded him. "I actually rather like the idea."

Sirius beamed. "I thought we ought to do it tonight, when everyone else is asleep. The twins can Apparate, after all, so they can pop down here from their room."

"I wasn't part of the slime prank, unless you count the unwitting victim as a part of the prank," Remus reminded Sirius. "I'm afraid I won't be of much aid."

"You're the farthest from unwitting anyone could be," Sirius countered. "You are entirely witting. You have a great deal of wit." Remus rolled his eyes. "But I can explain the slime prank, and you can help with others. I'm sure they'll want to hear about all of our exploits."

"Those which didn't take place on the full moon," Remus clarified. Sirius huffed.

"The twins won't mind," he protested. "If anything, they'll probably think it's as cool as we did."

"I'd rather not," Remus stated firmly. "They may know already, but I'd rather not make sure of it."

"Fine," Sirius muttered. Remus knew he would grumble about it, but he wouldn't say anything to Fred and George without express permission. It wasn't his secret to tell, and he knew it.

Sirius opened his mouth to say something else, although Remus wasn't quite sure what, when Molly called up that it was time for dinner. Sirius shut his mouth with a soft click and stood, striding over to the door. Remus followed him, thankfully not running into Kreacher, and entered the kitchen to find that Molly had made a delicious-looking stew.

Dinner was fairly quick, followed by more perusing of pictures. Remus blushed madly when the children found a picture of him in bellbottomed jeans, although he insisted they had been in style when he was their age. Everyone was amused by a picture of Sirius, back in their first year, covered in soot and looking shocked at the remains of an exploded vial.

"Yeah, the first few pranks we pulled didn't always go too well," Sirius reminisced. Remus rolled his eyes.

"As I recall, we didn't pull a decent prank until third term of first year," he put in. Sirius waved him off.

"Details, details."

The pictures and reminiscing went on for another hour or so, until Molly declared that it was bedtime. The children grumbled but followed her lead, Fred and George dropping twin winks at Remus and Sirius as they passed. Even though Molly wasn't that much older than Remus, he still felt the urge to follow her instructions, an urge that was only curbed by the mischievous and roguish look on Sirius' face, one Remus had rarely truly seen since before Azkaban. There weren't many things Remus wouldn't do to keep that look there.

"When are we going to tell them?" Remus asked as Sirius lounged in an armchair, flipping through pictures. The box seemed never to end; Remus wondered if it had an Undetectable Extension Charm cast on it. "And where?"

"Your room, in an hour," Sirius replied absentmindedly. Remus frowned.

"Why my room?"

"Because Molly won't suspect you of corrupting the twins, so if she realizes they're out of bed, she won't check your room first." Sirius pulled a picture out and frowned at it. "When did I date Marlene McKinnon?"

"Sixth year, for about two weeks," Remus replied, peering over Sirius' shoulder at the picture, which featured Sirius and Marlene sitting together, practically on each other's laps, and sneaking kisses. "I believe the two of you were attempting to passive-aggressively get back and James and Lily for their fighting and, as I'm fairly certain you called it, their 'bloody unbelievable amounts of unresolved sexual tension that better not get resolved in my bed, Prongs.'"

"How the hell do you remember that?" Sirius demanded. Remus shrugged.

"It was followed by James insinuating he'd wanked over Lily in your bed, and then you hexed him so badly it took me nearly twenty minutes to sort him out, at which point I was almost late to Ancient Runes. So yes, it was fairly memorable."

"Ah, now I remember," Sirius said with a far-off look Remus was _fairly_ certain was affected. "Prongs could be quite a git."

"So could you," Remus retorted. "We all were."

"You weren't," Sirius protested. Remus arched an eyebrow.

"That's not what you said after I got you back for your prank at the Winter Ball."

"That was a fairly amazing prank you did, especially considering you pulled it off yourself," Sirius replied. Remus scoffed.

"Everyone knew I was the brains of the Marauders."

"You and your research," Sirius replied fondly. "I think you were pleased when the rest of us were banned from the library. Let you have some private time in there."

"Ah, yes, time to read without having my book snatched from my grip or fending off jinxes. It was lovely." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Boring."

"Speak for yourself," Remus retorted. "Anyway, if not for my 'boring' research, would we have been able to make the Marauder's Map? I think not."

"Psh," Sirius retorted, rolling his eyes again. "We would have figured it out eventually."

"I doubt it," Remus muttered. Sirius ignored him.

"Well," Sirius declared a few minutes later, "off to bed?"

"If you keep saying that and going into my room, people will talk," Remus teased as they made their way up the stairs to his room. Sirius grinned wickedly.

"Let them," he replied, sliding his incredibly cold hands under Remus' jumper. Remus let out a small shriek and Sirius roared with laughter.

"You're a bastard," Remus told Sirius firmly, pulling his jumper back down and crossing his arms angrily. "A complete bastard."

"And yet you love me anyway," Sirius replied, lounging against the stair rail. Remus arched an eyebrow.

"Do I? Hmm. I wasn't aware of that."

"Ooh, that's cold," Sirius replied, shaking his head. "That's really cold. I think you're the bastard here, Moony."

"Takes one to know one, Padfoot," Remus retorted. Sirius laughed as he continued to go up the stairs.

Remus' room was empty when they reached it; the twins hadn't arrived yet. Sirius threw himself down on the bed while Remus sat at his desk, putting away the quills he had used earlier in the day and left out on his desk. He could feel Sirius watching him, but he ignored it. If Sirius had something to say, he'd say it; he'd never been one for beating around the bush. If not... Well, Remus had noticed Sirius watching him before, staring at him when he thought Remus wouldn't notice. It was as if he thought Remus would disappear once he took his eyes off him.

Hermione's words echoed in Remus' mind. _He doesn't want you to go._ Sirius was using Remus as an anchor, to keep him from flying off the handle. What he did when Remus was gone, he wasn't quite sure, but the house was always in a disarray when Remus returned from a mission, and Sirius, unshaven and in dirty clothes, often smelled faintly of firewhiskey. _He doesn't want you to go._

Remus wasn't planning on going anywhere.

Two loud cracks ripped through the silence, heralding the arrival of Fred and George. Remus stayed in his casual position only because he had, from age eleven, firmly trained himself not to jump at loud noises. When living in the same dormitory as Sirius and James, loud noises were a fact of life. Jumping at them did you no good and only earned you ruthless teasing. Peter had always been the jumpiest, Remus remembered. He had always claimed it wasn't his fault and that it was because his inner animal was a rat. Remus wondered how they had never realized what else his inner animal being a rat would mean.

"Fred! George!" Sirius jumped up off the bed. "Alright, I've cast a spell that should keep your mother from hearing us, but we should stay quiet anyway."

"Alright," the twins replied in unison, looking excited.

"Now, am I to understand you were the ones who gave Harry the Marauder's Map?" Remus asked. A tiny hint of worry showed on the twins' faces. "What did you think of it?"

"It's an incredible piece of magic," Fred replied. George nodded.

"And the Marauders helped us more than we can say."

"You're welcome," Sirius replied with a huge grin. It took a moment for his words to connect, but when they did, Fred and George looked about ready to fall out of their chairs.

"You...?" Fred whispered.

"Moony," Remus began, gesturing at himself, "Wormtail, Padfoot," - he waved a hand towards Sirius, who bowed - "and Prongs."

"Wormtail was Peter, and Prongs was James," Sirius added.

"James as in _Harry's dad_?" George hissed. Sirius nodded gleefully. "Does Harry know?"

"Yes, we've told him," Remus replied. The twins abruptly looked furious.

"And the little shit never told us?" Fred thundered.

"After we gave him the Map?" George added. Sirius smirked.

"Shall we discuss pranks now, gentlemen?"

"Wait," George requested, frowning slightly. "You're an Animagus. Pettigrew is an Animagus too, isn't he?"

"That he is," Sirius replied, a wide smile curling his lips. Remus felt more anxious than excited; the twins were coming far too close to figuring it out.

"So if you're a dog and you're Padfoot, and Pettigrew is a rat and named Wormtail..." Fred began.

"What are Moony and Prongs?" George finished.

"Have you seen Harry's patronus?" Remus asked despite himself.

"Prongs was a stag?" George put together quickly. Sirius nodded.

"And then Moony?" Fred asked, looking eagerly at Remus.

"Don't you want to know how we did the slime prank?" Sirius asked, effortlessly changing the subject and saving Remus from having to answer the question. The twins turned to Sirius excitedly.

"It was impressive spellwork, but they're still a load of bastards for doing it," Remus muttered.

"Alright, we only wanted the slime to appear when Remus was at the epicenter," Sirius explained. "Ideally, Lily would be there too, but Remus was more important."

"How flattering," Remus muttered. Sirius shot him a grin.

"So, we enchanted a ladle as the host for the spell," Sirius told the twins. "Once Remus touched it - and it would only work for Remus - the slime would explode. When we got down to the the ball, we exchanged the ladle in the punch bowl for the one we had enchanted. It was simple."

"But how did you make the slime?" Fred asked. Sirius' grin widened as he began to explain.

Fred and George heard about a whole number of pranks that night. Remus must have drifted off at some point, as the last thing he remembered was Sirius beginning the story of the Great Potions Incident of '74. Remus was awoken by two loud cracks echoing through the room.

"That was the twins leaving," Sirius told Remus, seeing his eyes open blearily. "You've gotten old."

"Bugger off," Remus muttered, staggering upright and over to the bed. He collapsed upon it, not bothering to get into his pajamas, and pulled the duvet over him.

A furry muzzle pressed against Remus' arm. "Sleeping here then, Padfoot?" Remus murmured. He could remember nights when Padfoot had joined him in bed, back when they were still at Hogwarts. Somehow, Sirius made a distinction between doing such things as himself - which was completely unmanly and never allowable - and doing them as Padfoot - which was totally different and completely acceptable. Remus didn't pretend to understand the difference.

"G'night, Padfoot," he mumbled. Padfoot responded with a soft snuffling noise as he snuggled closer.

They had been five good friends at Hogwarts during their time: Sirius, Remus, James, Peter, and Lily. Three were gone now, two dead and one a traitor, but Sirius and Remus still remained.

As he fell asleep, Remus hoped it would stay that way.


End file.
